Daily Word

In Spite of Past Experience

Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. —Luke 5:4

Peter had fished all night. He was a professional fisherman by trade. He had caught nothing, and he was cleaning his nets because it was daylight and time to go home. Peter was probably tired; he had been up all night and could not wait to go home and go to bed. But along came a Preacher, a Preacher who had probably never fished a day in His life! He didn’t know anything about fishing. “He should stick to preaching and let me do the fishing!” But Peter decided to obey the word of the Lord, not excited or expecting to receive, but simply to make Jesus happy and then go home. But to Peter’s surprise, to his shock, they caught a great number of fish and their net broke. Why didn’t he let down the nets for a catch (as Jesus had said) instead of only one net? “I never thought I would catch anything! I had fished all night, it was now daylight, and the fish could see the nets. Nobody catches fish in the daytime! This doesn’t make fishing sense. This goes beyond all I know as a fisherman.” A simple, reluctant half-obe dience to the Master resulted in a mighty miracle of provision for Peter . . . Where have you failed to obey God? Where did you know more about something than God does? Forget what you know in the natural, and obey God’s Word. Your miracle is a “yes” away.

In Spite of Natural Evidence

And [Jesus] said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water. —Matthew 14:29

Peter heard Jesus speak one word—“Come.” If you hear one word from God and obey it, it can change your life forever. Jesus was a Man of few words: “Come”; “Be healed”; “Be made whole”; “Go and sin no more”; “Come out”; “Go”; “Be of good cheer.” Whenever anyone heard and obeyed the words of Jesus, a miracle went into effect. Peter stepped out on one word—“Come”—and it was enough for him to do the impossible: walk on the water! He had to think, What if I drown? The other disciples must have said, “Don’t be a fool, Peter!” But Peter made a decision, a decision to obey the word, in spite of what his friends thought, in spite of what logic said, in spite of the impossibility of walking on the water. Notice, once you take a step out in faith, once you decide to obey the Word, the natural evidence will attack you. The wind was boisterous, and Peter was afraid. He did not know that, wind or no wind, he could not walk on the water! On a calm day, he would still have sunk if he was not standing on the Word. The natural will always try to get you back in the boat when you start in the supernatural: stop tithing—it will never work! Stop loving others—you will just get hurt! Stop reading the Bible—you will never understand it. Instead, stay focused on the Word that you obeyed. Do not take your eyes off the promise. Do not let go of your miracle!

In Spite of Other Voices

Make thee an ark of gopher wood. —Genesis 6:14

God came and spoke to Noah, telling him to make an ark. Noah was one of the few people left on the earth who were walking with God and were still able to hear His voice. But this command of God to make an ark had to test Noah’s obedience to God. An ark? A great big ark, large enough to house his family and many animals? An ark in a place where it had never rained before? (Genesis 2:5–6). An undertaking that would take a long time to complete? What would others say? What would his family say? “Why are you building an ark? Why are you wasting your time? It doesn’t rain! There is no water where you are building it!” “Did you hear about Noah? He believes God told him to build an ark, to get two of every living creature onto the boat. He always was a little weird, a little different from the rest of us.” “He claims it is going to rain and flood the earth. Poor old Noah!” Noah could have easily said, “God, You make the rain start, and then I will build an ark.” But God told him to build it before the rain started. The day the rains came, the day the Flood began, you can bet that Noah was glad he obeyed God. In spite of his natural mindset, in spite of the persecution and criticism of others, who was the fool when the rains came? Who was “wasting their time” obeying God then? Noah, make thee an ark.

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee. —Genesis 12:1

Abraham heard the voice of God. For Abraham to be obedient, an action was required. Pack up! Leave! Go away from kinfolk, to a land I will show you. The Word of God and the voice of God will many times cause you to move out of your comfort zone. It will take you away from familiar surroundings and separate you from “natural” people close to you who are natural thinkers and may discourage your move. This is why you must live prayed up and in the Spirit to be able to make the right decisions. When a prompting comes by the Spirit, many times it will come one step at a time. Go! Get out! Leave relations! Go to a land I will show you! It is much easier to say, “Lord, You show me the land, and I will go!” But unless you obey the first command, you will never get to the new land. If Abraham had chosen not to go, he would have never had a child, never had the blessings overtake him, never would have become the father of many nations. His one decision—to obey God’s voice—would affect generations to come. He had to go based on a word he received and trusting in a God whom he believed had spoken to him. Throughout the Bible, people who obeyed the voice of God succeeded. Listen to hear His voice today; then obey what He says to do.